This invention relates to a motor vehicle having an external rearview mirror.
In order to provide the driver of a motor vehicle with the possibility of viewing and monitoring the rearward road space, exterior rearview mirrors, or abbreviated, external mirrors, are provided among others in the case of motor vehicles. From the state of the art, it is also known, among other things, to design such an external mirror to be adjustable and/or heatable. As an alternative or in addition to providing an external mirror, it is known to display the image of one or more cameras directed at the rearward road space by means of a display unit, which can be viewed by the driver.
It is an object of the invention to provide a motor vehicle which offers an improved overall solution for providing a view of the rearward road space.
This and others objects are achieved by a motor vehicle according to the invention comprising an external rearview mirror and a mirror drive assigned to the external rearview mirror, by which the external rearview mirror can be moved into a first mirror position or into a second mirror position. The motor vehicle further comprises at least one display unit, which can be viewed by a driver of the motor vehicle, and a camera directed at the rearward vehicle surroundings, which camera supplies an image signal on which an image of the surroundings is based that can be displayed by the display unit. In addition, the motor vehicle has devices for determining the driving speed of the motor vehicle and includes a control unit, by which the mirror drive can be controlled as a function of the driving speed such that the external rearview mirror is moved from the first mirror position into the second mirror position.
The mirror movement can consist particularly of a swiveling or hinge-type movement. For the purpose of simplifying the language, a folding-in or folding-out of the external mirror and/or a change-over of the mirror position will therefore frequently be mentioned in the following.
While known solutions usually have had the goal of improving the system with a concrete focus (for example, on the optimal view of the rearward road space), in the case of the present invention, the creation of an overall optimum is in the foreground.
At a high forward-driving speed, a significant contribution is made to lowering the fuel consumption and emissions in that the aerodynamics of the vehicle are improved by the folding-in of the external mirror. This takes place while accepting a possibly degraded view of the rearward road space. At a lower forward-driving speed, as well as when the vehicle is stationary and when it is backing up, an improved view of the rearward road space is provided by providing a “real” external mirror. This again takes place while accepting degraded aerodynamics.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.